POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 24, 2010) -- Coming off a 10-day tour to Ireland the Vassar College men's rugby team was in a confident mood to take on the University of Albany at the Farm on Wednesday evening, but despite holding a lead at halftime dropped a 27-17 decision.

 A good crowd was on hand and even the weather cooperated as the sun shone and a strong breeze whipped across the field. Despite a promising first half Vassar fell off the pace in the second 40 and finished poorly allowing two late tries to decide the game.

Vassar College Men 17 v University of Albany Men 27
Tries: Brett Anker (1), C.J. LeSuer (1), & Kendall Coleman (1).
Cons: Jake London (1).

The day didn't start well for the Brewers when starting flyhalf Connor O'Neill had to drop out due to illness. So Conor Boylan moved from scrumhalf to number 10 and Kris Adkins came into the lineup. The diminutive freshman did well in this his first start on US soil but then took a knock and had to be replaced with rookie Zach Kent moving from the wing to halfback. Even given these setbacks Vassar held a significant edge in the set piece. The Brewers outscrummaged Albany and took 3 strikes against the head and Iain Gordon in the lineout stole ball at the front.

But what has plagued Vassar all year has been the inability to turn territory and possession into points. They did score the only try of the first half and led 5-0 after Brett Anker went over in the left-hand corner after some good phase play and then the ball was moved along the whole back division. But really, given the amount of possession and poor kicking from Albany, Vassar had wasted chances.

When a team makes mistakes one must capitalize or they are gifting a lifeline. Two blindside breaks inside the Albany half went begging when players held the ball with the wing wide open. Two of the strikes against the head were picked up and run right! It's hard to be critical of Number 8 Iain Gordon for he does so many good things and is the core of the forwards, but these were opportunities squandered. These miscues were compounded by a lack of vision as the Vassar outside backs were not released when they had time and space.

So the first half ended with Vassar ahead just 5-0 but Albany had played poorly and was still just 1 score from taking the lead. It did not take them long to get their noses ahead as they began to run over tacklers and bulldoze upfield to make it 7-5.

Vassar responded well with some good continuity and when Adam Steel was just short at the ensuing ruck #C.J. LeSueur picked and plunged over to make it 10-7 to Vassar. But the signs were not good as Albany realized they could break tackles and the Vassar forwards were not even rucking hard. At the restart Ian Ruginski# was robbed of the ball and Albany quickly moved the ball left on the narrow side scoring to make it 12-10 to the visitors.

At the restart C.J. Le Sueur tackled the receiver before he caught the ball. It was his second such infringement so he received a red card. Albany's player was sent to the sinbin for punching so it was 14 v 14 for 10 minutes and then for the final 15 minutes Albany had a one man advantage. The odds were stacked against Vassar now down on the scoreboard and a man short.

The Vassar scrum started to be wheeled and lineouts were lost so now it was Albany who had the majority of possession. Vassar was on the back foot and adding to their woes were the number of turnovers. Vassar players kept running into 3 and 4 tacklers instead of making a single pass to runners outside.

Albany scored with a simple set piece from a 5-meter scrum going blind. Rookies Anker and Kent were nowhere to be seen and it was 17-10 to Albany.

Albany caught the restart and ran strongly into the Vassar half but when they moved the ball left a poor pass went to ground. Vassar's Kendall Coleman scooped it up and sprinted a full 65 meters to score near the posts. Jake London cooly slotted the conversion so with about 8 minutes remaining it was tied 17-17.

These last minutes Vassar pressed and indeed it looked like the tide had turned but first a high tackle from Gordon and then two poor decisions from James Purtle to kick the ball away allowed Albany back into the game. They scored as a result of missed tackles and it was game over. Another late try had the suspicion of a forward pass but the result was already decided.

Vassar will no doubt learn a lot from watching the video. Brett Anker must not get caught at the back and make sure he gets the ball in front of his forwards; Zach Kent will know to cover the blindside at 5-meter scrums. All the players need better game sense to set up one another, and the forwards must be more dynamic rucking. So much to do so little time!

Team: 15 Brett Anker 14 Zach Kent 13 Jake London 12 James Purtle 11 Nic Placeres 10 Connor Boylan 9 Kris Adkins 1 Tyler Blake 2 Hal Moore 3 Barrington Archer 4 Ian Ruginski 5 C.J. Le Sueur 6 Aaron Colton 7 Adam Steel 8 Iain Gordon Subs: Kendall Coleman for Kris Adkins.

Next: Saturday March 27, 2010 vs R.P.I. Men KO 11:30 a.m.
Overall record 2009-10: 2-9-1.